Maintaining Compact Early Started Seedlings
Posted: Thu 10-Feb-2022, 21:57
Many of you will be starting your seedlings indoors before planting them outdoors. Here are a few tips for keeping them from getting too spindly and weak in the knees.
1. Once you have achieved germination for brassicas and lettuces and other cool season plants, try to drop the temperature to slow rapid vegetative growth
2. Plants respond to evenly warm temperatures by releasing less growth hormone and putting on less vegetative growth. In nature night temperatures are cooler then day temperatures causing release in growth hormone and resulting in lankier plants. If you can maintain even temperatures between night and day, the plants will stretch slower than if they had cool night temperatures. If temperatures are warmer at night then in the day, the plants will be even more compact. One way to trick the plants into thinking they have warmer nights than day times, is to give them a cool morning pulse (open the window, or set your heating mat to turn off at dawn for a few hours. This will actually result in more compact plants.
3. Get your light as close to the plants as you can. They should be sitting just an inch or two from the seedlings. If you half the distance that the ligths are situated from the seedlings, you double the intensity of the light for the plants. Seedlings with plenty of light will not be stretching their necks out lookng for it.
4. Don't start too early with tomatoes or peppers, to avoid them becoming too leggy simply because they have been indoors too long. Starting them 6-8 weeks before planting out is about right (maybe a bit longer for peppers)
1. Once you have achieved germination for brassicas and lettuces and other cool season plants, try to drop the temperature to slow rapid vegetative growth
2. Plants respond to evenly warm temperatures by releasing less growth hormone and putting on less vegetative growth. In nature night temperatures are cooler then day temperatures causing release in growth hormone and resulting in lankier plants. If you can maintain even temperatures between night and day, the plants will stretch slower than if they had cool night temperatures. If temperatures are warmer at night then in the day, the plants will be even more compact. One way to trick the plants into thinking they have warmer nights than day times, is to give them a cool morning pulse (open the window, or set your heating mat to turn off at dawn for a few hours. This will actually result in more compact plants.
3. Get your light as close to the plants as you can. They should be sitting just an inch or two from the seedlings. If you half the distance that the ligths are situated from the seedlings, you double the intensity of the light for the plants. Seedlings with plenty of light will not be stretching their necks out lookng for it.
4. Don't start too early with tomatoes or peppers, to avoid them becoming too leggy simply because they have been indoors too long. Starting them 6-8 weeks before planting out is about right (maybe a bit longer for peppers)